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Winner: Damien Hobgood (USA) 14.10, @kellyslater (USA) 12.00, @JackRobinsonAus (AUS) 5.83 in H6 R1. #OakleyProBali

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Record: 37-33. Pace: 86-76. Change on 2012: +2. Let's just review the Marlins this season. Coming in to tonight, their team line was .232/.289/.330, a .619 OPS which is close to 50 points worse the Cliff Pennington's career numbers. Not to pick on Pennington of course, but he's a player whose value is almost entirely with his glove. And the Marlins have been significantly worse than that this year. No team in the league has had an OPS that low for over 40 years, since the 1972 Padres. They're bad. But they have Giancarlo Stanton., who had a career OPS+ of 140 before tonight's game. He is the epitome of the guy you don't let beat you. He's Barry Bonds on the 2001 Giants. Tonight, for example, he was being "protected" in the line-up by the Marlins' clean-up hitter, Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna is a rookie who possesses exactly one career home-run in the majors, over his 162 at-bats there. Stanton is, literally, the only hitter in the Marlins line-up who poses a threat. This isn't second-guessing. You can ask Mrs. SnakePit, because before Stanton's second at-bat, I turned and said to her, "This guy scares me." The result was a loud, very long fly-ball to the warning track and a large lump in my throat. But the D-backs didn't learn. With the game on the line subsequently, they pitched to Stanton twice, and got burned both times, costing them this one. You can kinda understand the first situation. Patrick Corbin had pitched brilliantly through the first five innings, not just keeping the Marlins off the board, but no-hitting them. The only base-runners he had allowed were Stanton, who reached on an error by Martin Prado in the first, and a two-out walk in the fourth. The no-hitter was finally broken up by Juan Pierre, with one out in the sixth, who slapped a bloop hit over the head of third-base and dumped it into left-field. One out later, Stanton was up, and Corbin fell behind 2-0. He did appear to hit his spot with the next pitch, based on where Montero was setting up, but Stanton still crushed it, over the D-backs bullpen in left. Tied game. There's another proverb that seems relevant here. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. After a scoreless seventh and eighth innings, Corbin exited, having allowed two hits and one walk, striking out seven and throwing 106 pitches. The team turned to Heath Bell for the ninth, which is fairly standard practice: at home, you use your closer in the ninth of a tied game, and play for the win in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Stanton was up again. Bell got ahead of him with some nasty curves, but with a 1-2 count, left a fastball up - as 'hacks noted. apparently shaking off Montero - and Stanton, inevitably, crushed it the other way, over the fences in left-field. Daniel Hudson made a spirited attempt to defend the decision on Twitter, saying "Sorry guys, two outs in the ninth, you NEVER put the go ahead run on base. Next guy hits a homer, you’re down 2. Then what?" Of course, as noted above, the odds of Ozuna hitting a home-run were so slim as to require some kind of advanced optical device to locate them. Frankly, knowing Stanton was certain to come up in the ninth, I'd have used Ziegler, off whom it's almost impossible for anyone to hit a home-run. If he walked or got one through the infield, you play no doubles defense, and it takes two hits to score him. The bottom of the Marlins order probably aren't going to do that. Remarkably, the Marlins didn't just win despite not getting a hit with runners in scoring position, they didn't even have ONE PLATE-APPEARANCE with runners in scoring position. It's only the fourth time in franchise history we've lost such a game. It was also only the sixth time the Diamondbacks pitching staff have allowed three hits or fewer over nine innings of work, and still lost - the last occasion was in September 2008, when Jon Rauch allowed a go-ahead home-run to Corey Patterson in the 10th inning against Cincinnati, and we lost 2-1 to t

Normally when a pitcher throws a complete game on the road, it means they won. However, Mets fans know better than to think they are anything close to normal. One night after the Mets continued the downward spiral of humanity by celebrating a game they didn’t deserve to win, Karma reared her ugly head and forced some the Mets’ own medicine down their throat. Dillon Gee had perhaps his best outing as a New York Met tonight against the Atlanta Braves. After a four hour rain delay, Gee pitched 8 scoreless innings to give the Mets a chance to upset the first-place Braves. Not only was Gee dealing, but he also singled in John Buck for the Mets’ only run. Gee was due to bat in the top half of the 9th, forcing Terry Collins to do something he doesn’t do very well — make a decision. Collins stuck with Gee and let him strike out to end the first half of the inning. Can’t knock Collins for rewarding a guy who had allowed just three hits and one walk over 8 innings to one of the best offenses in baseball. Gee had to face the heart of the Braves stacked lineup. Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, and Freddie Freeman. Freeman, who is quietly one of the best players in the world, was the only Brave to look good all night — collecting two hits already. After retiring Heyward, Gee let up a single to the younger Upton. Collins didn’t flinch and left closer Bobby Parnell in the bullpen to let Gee face Freeman and go for the first full complete game in his career (he pitched a six-inning, rain-shortened complete game in Chicago). Then this happened: It is hard not to feel awful for Gee, who has been an absolute trooper for the miserable Mets. He pitched brilliantly against a superior opponent, he drove in the Mets only run, and he collected his second, incomplete-complete game going eight and a third and getting dealt a soul eating loss. Article found on: Next Impulse Sports

Clearly, the Phillie Phanatic has got to stop loaning his ATV out to people who don't fill up his gas tank. During last night's Washington Nationals/Philadelphia Phillies game, the Phanatic's ATV stalled and the proof of the stall can be seen in the below video: Your browser does not support iframes. (Courtesy of Bush League Chronicle)

Agent: Datsyuk, Red Wings 'very close' to new deal

I’ve been wrestling back and forth about this for some time, and I’ve come to the conclusion that San Diego Hiker has run its course. Obviously, the entries have been few and far between for a while, and I don’t see them picking up anytime soon. So, sometime between now and when the current term [...]

Given the weather in Atlanta on Monday night, it's a surprise that the Mets and the Braves even played a game of baseball. After waiting in a rain delay for almost four hours, though, the teams blew through the first six innings of the game, as neither one did much of anything at the plate. But in the seventh inning, John Buck reached base on an infield single and moved to second on a groundball out. Dillon Gee, who was pitching very well, singled through the left side of the infield to bring Buck home, scoring the first run of the game. The Mets didn't do much more at the plate, Lucas Duda's 4-for-4 night aside, but one run looked like it just might hold up until Justin Upton singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth. Freddie Freeman followed up with a two-run home run, winning the game for Atlanta and robbing Gee of his first big league shutout. In total, Gee struck out six and walked one in 8.1 innings, hardly a bad start. The five-game series continues with a doubleheader on Tuesday. Matt Harvey will start the 1:10 pm game, and Zack Wheeler will make his big league debut in the 7:10 pm game. SB Nation Coverage * Amazin' Avenue Gamethread * Talking Chop Gamethread Win Probability Added (What's this?) Big winners: Dillon Gee (hitting), +12.9% WPABig losers: Dillon Gee, -22.9% WPA, Marlon Byrd, -22.4% WPATeh aw3s0mest play: Gee's RBI single, +20.2% WPATeh sux0rest play: Freeman's home run, -80.2% WPATotal pitcher WPA: -22.9% WPATotal batter WPA: -27.1% WPAGWRBI!: Freddie Freeman

PHOENIX -- Nobody had beaten the Diamondbacks in games which Pat Corbin was the starting pitcher for Arizona. Not the Dodgers or the Yankees. Not the Phillies or the Braves. Not the Rockies or the Giants.

Big Mac brought up a good idea that involved the community taking place of NBA general manages and selecting prospects for differents teams. THIS ISN'T A MOCK DRAFT. I just want to gauge the interest within the rest of the community. If we can get people to sign up for every team then there's a possibility that I can set something up for us to do this. But, using this thread, sign up for a team. If we get enough interest then we can do it. If not, oh well we tried Cleveland Cavaliers Orlando Magic Washington Wizards Charlotte Bobcats Phoenix Suns New Orleans Pelicans Sacramento Kings Detroit Pistons Minnesota Timberwolves Portland Trail Blazers Philadelphia 76ers Oklahoma City Thunder Dallas Mavericks Utah Jazz Milwaukee Bucks Boston Celtics Atlanta Hawks Atlanta Hawks Cleveland Cavaliers Chicago Bulls Utah Jazz Brooklyn Nets Indiana Pacers New York Knicks Los Angeles Clippers Minnesota Timberwolves Denver Nuggets San Antonio Spurs Oklahoma City Thunder Phoenix Suns Big Mac brought up a good idea that involved the community taking place of NBA general manages and selecting prospects for differents teams. THIS ISN'T A MOCK DRAFT. I just want to gauge the interest within the rest of the community. If we can get people to sign up for every team then there's a possibility that I can set something up for us to do this. But, using this thread, sign up for a team. If we get enough interest then we can do it. If not, oh well we tried Cleveland Cavaliers Orlando Magic Washington Wizards Charlotte Bobcats Phoenix Suns New Orleans Pelicans Sacramento Kings Detroit Pistons Minnesota Timberwolves Portland Trail Blazers Philadelphia 76ers Oklahoma City Thunder Dallas Mavericks Utah Jazz Milwaukee Bucks Boston Celtics Atlanta Hawks Atlanta Hawks Cleveland Cavaliers Chicago Bulls Utah Jazz Brooklyn Nets Indiana Pacers New York Knicks Los Angeles Clippers Minnesota Timberwolves Denver Nuggets San Antonio Spurs Oklahoma City Thunder Phoenix Suns